The Cheeks Firing - Window Dressing 101

Mo Cheeks is one of the classiest and most likable personalities in sports in general, and in Philadelphia sports in particular, and in the best of all possible worlds he would have coached for a decade or more in the city where he made an indelible mark, and then left on his own terms.

But pro sports is big business with little place for sentiment. If a team is losing, particularly in the NBA, the ex-coaches' trap door opens wide and down the next victim slides ending up in the recyclables bin. More than a dozen NBA head coaches have been down the chute since the end of last season. Mo knows the drill and we're certainly not talking economic hardship here. Still, something is wrong with this picture.

Late last season, the Sixers were the toast of the town, a team with lots of upside and little downside - young with a sprinkle of wise veterans, athletic, loose, deep, and gaining confidence. This was an especially dangerous mix going into the playoffs and no doubt the Pistons anticipated trouble. They got that trouble but ultimately they were able to hold off the Sixers. But the Philadelphia team showed they were the real deal and there was the feeling that Cheeks' squad, not to mention the entire city, couldn't wait for the 08-09 campaign to begin. In the meantime, the coach's contract had been extended not once but twice. They began the season very tentatively but then they went on a mini-streak and got over .500 and things were looking up. But then an absolutely horrific 10 games and Mo is gone.

Now Cheeks certainly deserves plenty of responsibility for the slide. But at what point in the last 3 weeks did Mo Cheeks forget how to coach? At what point in the last 3 weeks did he lose the respect of his players? Management had enough confidence in Mo just a few months ago to extend his contract. Now they need a "new direction"? So new coach Tony DiLeo is "change you can believe in"? On Saturday night, in the win over the hapless Wizards, Bob Salmi remarked on how Dalembert was running the floor for coach DiLeo. Was Dalembert unable to run the floor for Mo? Did Cheeks tell him not to run the floor? It just doesn't add up.

Elton Brand is the only tangible difference from last year's squad and presumably his acquisition was primarily a front office decision. Clearly, a major issue has been integrating Brand with his new teammates. The difficulty of accomplishing this integration should not be underestimated and sometimes the only road map is trial and error. It may not have seemed so at the time, but obtaining a player like Brand was a huge gamble. The young Sixers were an unorthodox mix of players with an unorthodox style of play. Unless there were some behind-the-scenes issues we are not aware of, the front office should have understood that Cheeks needed more time to splice Brand into the system. Not a quarter of a season.

Most of the time, changing coaches is just window dressing. Perhaps there will be a short-term bounce. Or perhaps Tony DiLeo will turn out to be Red Auerbach and John Wooden rolled into one, but skepticism is advised. And if DiLeo fails, then what? Larry Brown will be brought back to save another franchise, just like he resurrected the Knicks and the Bobcats? Larry Brown - now that's change you can believe in.

In the meantime, if we could somehow recoup all the money the Sixers have payed to ex-coaches and ex-players, we could bail out General Motors, Chrysler and the Wachovia Center's namesake.